Cody Bellinger Impresses at Home Run Derby, Eliminated in Second Round

So Cody Bellinger didn’t win the 2017 home run derby, but he did perform pretty well. The rookie slugger hit 15 home runs in the first round to beat Charlie Blackmon by an inch, (literally) and advance to the second round where he hit 12 long balls. Unfortunately he was up against Aaron Judge, Yankee strong man and beast. Judge ended up winning the home run derby, defeating Miguel Sano of the Twins in the final round.

The home run derby is different than many of us remember from years past. The rules have been changed. The eight participants are seeded from 1-8, (Bellinger was the number 3 seed) and each round is now timed. Each batter gets four minutes as two sluggers are paired against each other in each round.

You must beat your opponent, (hit more home runs than him) in order to advance to the next round. There are three rounds and if you hit two or more 440 foot home runs you get an extra 30 seconds per round.

Bellinger had his Dad pitching to him and I felt as if he was a bit slow to the plate. Bellinger had to beat Blackmon’s 14 in order to advance. Bellinger had 12 before hitting number 13 at the last second. The dinger counted and was over 440 feet to give young Cody the bonus time he needed to blast his way past Blackmon. Bellinger did just that as he hit 15 to pass up Blackmon and advance to the second round.

But Aaron Judge was just too much to overcome. Bellinger hit 12 home runs in the second round, but that would be as far as he would get. Bellinger hit 27 home runs combined in the two rounds and put on quite a show for the fans at Marlin’s Park. Teammate Kenley Jansen recorded the entire derby on video.

The home run derby is fun to watch but let’s just say that Cody is saving the home runs for the real games.

It’s good to see JT and Kenley out there supporting their teammate. On of the components of this team that I like is the support they have for each other. I think they genuinely like each other like a family, and that’s the hallmark of a good team. It’s good to see. Who knows, maybe that’s one of the reasons why the FO, in the end, was ok with letting Greinke go. I don’t think he was the most warm and fuzzy guy, a little detached.

You think the FO let Greinke go? I think they tried to extend him but got outbid.

Family is the hallmark of a good team? Yeah, it can be. Isn’t always. I think it’s easier to be happy when everything is going well.

I agree with True Blue regarding the Home Run contest. I watched a few minutes but got bored with it. Self adoring narcissistic egomaniacs admiring themselves. Yeah, I know. Those words are redundantly repetitive. Kind of like watching narcissistic egomaniacs admiring themselves year after year.

I’m waiting for September. Football starts and pennant races might actually be happening at that time.

I did not watch it. I was going to and changed my mind since it is nothing more than glorified batting practice. I did see a video of Judge’s blast over the Marlin and my question is, is that guy human or cyborg?? Any way, the game tonight also holds no real interest to me any more. I know it does not decide home field in the series, but I pretty much quit watching 15 years ago. So I will take my mid season sabbatical from baseball until Friday when McCarthy faces the fish, who are being sold for 1.17 Billion. Dodgers traded for a LF, Todd Cunningham for cash. Another under achiever added to the mix. They also signed Eddie Gamboa the other day to a minor league deal and he pitched 4 no hit innings at Tulsa. He is a 32 year old knuckleballer.

Interesting math technology that they can measure the speed and distance of the Home Runs. It is the same technology that is used to fire a rocket from a silo in North Dakota or from a submarine deep in the ocean and drop it within a block of an important target in Russia or China… Only equipment they need is a basic speed gun the scouts now use , same-same radar your “friendly” (?) neighborhood speed cop has used to take our money since the 50s! Two hits with the speed gun is all the data they need to (1) compute the trajectory angle, (2) compute the average speed of the baseball, given it’s ballistic coefficient, and (3) compute the distance it will travel before hitting the ground. Note that last prepositional phrase. They are actually computing how far the ball would have traveled if there were no stadium, spectators, or seats to stop it. Anyway you slice it, Aaron Judge is a colossal beast, isn’t he? But no back door for Cody, those 500 feet home runs score only one run unless there are runners on base. Exactly the same as a 331 foot fly ball down the foul line at Dodger Stadium.

With players today so much bigger and stronger than players of yesterday, I’d like to see some compensatory moves made to bring back more atleticism – make the field bigger. Tape measure shots will still happen, but guys like Judge can hit off their fists and send it over any fence in the Majors. Won’t happen of course. It’s not just chics that fight the long ball. Advertisers do too.

I agree with what you said about Greinke MJ. He’s an odd duck, but I don’t think players disliked him. That honor goes to Puig. In fact, TBLA did a piece a while back that said Greinke is a great teammate. FAZ wanted him here. They just got circumlocuted by a better bid. It happens.

I read the plane was a KC-130. I flew in a few C-130’s in nam. In fact, me and my Wisconsin dairy farm buddy drove a jeep onto one when we flew out of Khe Sanh at the end of Operation Pegasus in April ’68. Big plane. 4 engines.

Many of them have been in service about 50 years, Great plane. Did you know that the KC 130 (Tanker version, sames as the one that crashed) did multiple take-offs and landings on a carrier in 1963? Great plane. Many of the tanker pilots these days are women.

I was just reading the story about that Military Air Tanker crashing in Mississippi. A farmer reported hearing an explosion and then seeing the plane come down burning. Given all the redundant safety features the military mandates, I wouldn’t at all be surprised that someone helped that plane crash in some way. Keep that in mind as they investigate this tragedy.

They have what they call “hard points’ under the wings. They can attach extra fuel tanks, electronic or weapons pods, or even bombs and rockets. That can confuse people who aren’t familiar with the plane.